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{
    "localId": "290017989",
    "label": "Letter from President of the Philippines Sergio Osmena to President Harry S. Truman, with Attachment",
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    "id": "290017989",
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    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Letter from President of the Philippines Sergio Osmena to President Harry S. Truman, with Attachment",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/290017989",
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    "productionDates": [
        {
            "day": 19,
            "logicalDate": "1945-04-19",
            "month": 4,
            "year": 1945
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    "seq": 7,
    "pageIndex": 0,
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    "ocrText": "possible aid to the war victims in our country-the war veterans, espe-\nWe condemn the totalitarian ideology which the enemy has sought to\ncially those disabled or crippled; to the widows and orphans who have lost\nimpose on us under a government by self-constituted or God-chosen rulers,\ntheir loved one in this holocaust of war and misery; to the lonely fathers\nand we hereby reaffirm our devotion to the principle of popular sovereignty,\nand mothers who have sacrificed their beloved sons on the altar of freedom\nof a government of the people, for the people, and by the people.\nand democracy; to the peasant family who has lost its work animals and\nWe believe in the superiority of a responsible democracy, peaceful and\nseen its productive fields devastated by the enemy; to the artisans and the\nlaw-abiding, loyal to its institutions and determined to fight for its\nfactory workers who are now jobless and in want; to the homeless city\nway of life over a degenerate fascism and totalitarianism with its regi-\ndwellers, fire victims who now live in shambles and in crowded rooms\nmented lives, devoid of wills of their own.\nunfit for human habitation; to the survivors of the wholesale massacres\nWe shall re-establish in our country a social and political system which\nin Manila and other places in the Philippines.\nis founded on mutual faith, honesty and confidence and not on suspicion,\nIn the realization of the ideal of independence guaranteed by the United\ncorruption and fear, and in which government officials and employees are\nStates, the roots of which may be traced back to the glorious days of the\nnot the masters of the people but their servants, acting as necessary\nPhilippine Revolution, the attitude of the Filipinos in Bataan and through-\ninstrumentalities through which the public good and the individual welfare\nout the whole country has been a vital factor. This is so because it has\nmay be advanced and safeguarded.\ninaugurated a new era in Flipino-American relationship. It has sealed\nWe denounce the barbarous doctrine of collective responsibility for\nforever the ties of friendship and understanding binding the two peoples.\nindividual acts under which thousands of innocent men and women have\nIn the American people it has created a permanent interest in our welfare\nmet their death.\nour freedom, and our security. Into our people it has infused a new spirit\nWe stand for the individual liberties, guaranteed by our Constitution,\nof high responsibility and it has strengthened the friendship and goodwill\nfor the right of every man and woman to enjoy life, liberty and the\ntowards the United States. To the other democracies of the world, this\npursuit of happiness.\nattitude has brought the conviction that the Filipino people have already\nWe reject the theory of the existence of chosen or superior races; we\ncome of age and as a result, these nations, anticipating the date of our\nhold to the self-evident truth that no particular race has a monopoly on the\nindependence, have treated the Philippines as an independent nation so\ncapacity for progress and self-government.\nthat throughout our stay in Washington, our representatives met the\nWe believe in the universality of culture, and we shall seek the imple-\nrepresentatives of these nations on a basis of complete equality.\nments of progress in whatever source they may be found.\nIt is for this reason that in the first words I uttered upon my stepping\nWe reaffirm our faith in the principle of Philippine-American collabo-\non Philippine soil in Leyte in October, 1944, I affirmed that we came not\nration, its workability having been successfully tested both in peace and\nonly to restore the functions of the Government of the Commonwealth\nin war. This principle has been responsible for the unparalleled progress\nwhich existed at the time of the Japanese attack on December 8, 1941, but\nof our country during the last 46 years. It is a guarantee for the perma-\nto re-establish the Commonwealth Government in a more advanced and\nnence of Christian civilization in the Orient.\nprogressive form. With this advanced status, we will enjoy new powers\nwhich we propose to exercise with care and with the welfare of our people\nWe reiterate our adherence to the Atlantic Charter signed by the United\nas our sole guide. Obviously, this new situation imposes likewise wider\nNations of which we are one; for in that document they expressed\nresponsibilities which we should shoulder without vacillation.\ntheir desire to effect no territorial changes that do not accord with the\nAt this moment when we re-establish our Government in the capital city\nfreely expressed will of the people concerned, and \"to respect the right of\nof the Philippines, it is fitting that we make known the ideals and prin-\nall peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live.\"\nciples which will guide our actions.\nWe believe in the efficacy of the principle of collective security as a guar-\nWe hereby reaffirm our faith in, and adherence to, the principles of\nantee of world peace and the best assurance of the settlement of interna-\nfreedom and democracy-a faith and an adherence born in the early days\ntional disputes not by the arbitrament of arms but by the processes of\nof our Malay history, nurtured by four hundred years of Western contact,\npeace and justice. The legislation providing for the use, after the inde-\nconsecrated by our revolutionary fathers, invigorated by the teachings of\npendence of the Philippines, by the United States of naval and air bases\nAmerica, ratified in the constitutional processes of our Commonwealth, and\nhere for the mutual protection of the Philippines and the United States\nnow sanctified by the blood of the thousands of Filipino martyrs and heroes\nis a concrete example of the application of this principle. It is a mutual\nof the present war.\nagreement designed not only for the protection of both nations but as a"
}